Eldora Speedway
Pressure put on hold for NASCAR stars at Prelude
By Mike Arning
True Speed Communications
Tony Stewart won the Prelude in '08. (Jeremey Rhoades)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (Sept.8) — Ask drivers for one word describing the Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway and the response is almost unanimous: “Fun.”
For many stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the yearly jaunt to Ohio for the Prelude is a favorite stop. The race takes them back to their racing roots, for it’s short track racing at its finest. There is beating and banging and rooting and gouging, and in the end, everyone gets out of their respective cars with big smiles on their faces, laughing and telling stories. | Prelude pre-race slideshow
At Wednesday night’s fifth annual Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream, there could be more emphasis than ever on the fun part. That’s because the race — rescheduled from its original June 3 date after persistent rain forced the event to be postponed — is now just three days before one of the biggest NASCAR weekend’s on the circuit: the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. There, 11 drivers are vying for the remaining eight spots in the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, which will only be determined once the checkered flag drops at Richmond.
Of those 11 drivers, six are competing in the Prelude: Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch and David Reutimann. With only 122 points separating fifth-place Carl Edwards from 14th-place Busch, this year’s Chase is the most hotly contested since its inception in 2004.
So the timing for the rescheduled Prelude couldn’t be any better.
For one night, the drivers don’t have to focus on points. There’s no Chase-clinching scenario that they have to worry about. Instead, Wednesday night at Eldora is about some of the best drivers in motorsports competing in Dirt Late Models for a trophy and bragging rights among their peers.
“Eldora is always a fun event and everyone enjoys themselves,” said Kahne, currently sixth in the championship standings with a 96-point lead over 13th-place Vickers and winner of the Sprint Cup Series’ most recent race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “It’s not a points race or anything like that, so the fans are going to see the fun side of it.”
If only for a few hours, Kahne, along with colleagues Newman, Busch, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, will escape from the pressure cooker of grabbing one of the remaining spots available in the Chase. And with just Richmond remaining for drivers to secure their spot among the top 12, emotions are running high.
“We go to Eldora for the fun of it. There’s no pressure there — just fun,” said Newman, currently ninth in points, 81 markers ahead of 13th-place. “Eldora is just amazing. The excitement, the speed, the raw energy that comes out of that racetrack makes the track special and this race special."
Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, hopes his third trip to Eldora will be just a notch better than his result in 2007 when he finished second to Carl Edwards. But if a win isn’t in Busch’s immediate future at Eldora, that’s OK, because for him, the evening’s atmosphere is enough to make the experience one of his most relaxing and enjoyable nights of the year.
“This sort of takes us back to our roots,” said Busch, currently 14th in the standings and just 37 points outside the Chase. “This takes us back to our local Saturday night short track. We’re able to hang out in the pits and mix and mingle with each other and the show moves along — it keeps going. It’s just a neat atmosphere. We’re just there having a good time. We’re like what we were in the local short-track days, and it brings back sweet memories.”
